Locking chickens in coop for the night, a neccessity if they have a run?

[MarineCorpFarmr]

Hold the phone, there may be a way...after several phone calls, and some more research..grounding rounds can also be buried horizontally. If we dig as far down as we can, and bury them in a trench, they will still work, as long as there is some moisture there. I'll let you all know what happens...

wagon wheel pattern of 5 ground rods driven into the ground at a 45* angle is whats recommended (by the brand of charger i use) for your conditions. You mentioned your back yard was blasted too right?

 

[MrsRodgers]

I'm so glad to hear that! There's hope after all!!!!!

 

[MrsRodgers]

No, just where the house is. The back yard is a clean area as far as big rocks go..it's the millions of rocks under the ground that cause the problem. We couldn't do it at a 45, either. However, with a pick axe, we can make a trench, and pick up all the rocks.

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

Sent you a pm with fence info
Check out the install guide and the do's and don'ts. you might be able to put ground rods up buy the house if you have enough distance from your house ground

 

[MrsRodgers]

Yahoo! Guess who came back last night and got the crap scared out of him???

Here he is, climbing up the pile of wood to get into the coop (yes, I am aware that we made him a step to get in...we wanted him to be able to get in so we could catch him in the act and scare him).


If you look closely, you can see him there inside the fence, at the bottom. See the fuzzy area right at the fence line? That's buckshot! You can even see the chunks of snow flying!


Here is the coop and yard this morning. I have been putting my girls in the garage at night, so they won't get hurt. The stack of wood behind the coop to the right in where he climbs up. This is the view from the deck, where my husband stood and shot from. It was about 3:30 this morning, I was lying in bed, and I heard my tarp rip. I crept out of bed, and there he was, right in front of the coop. I whispered that he was there to my husband, who then crept down the stairs. He got the gun, opened the door, and when the floodlight came on...BAM! 6 times! That bear scrambled back to the fence by the woodpile, and found he could not get back out. He then went to the right, and climbed the big Ponderosa pine at the back corner, and furiously climbed the tree, and bailed out at about 15 ft up.


The tree....


Closer view...


Whoops...coop got in the way.


My girls, safe and sound this morning.

I'll bet he doesn't come back for awhile.

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

Good maybe the problem critter will get the point now (if not you could try rocksalt shotgun shells)

 

[kellieetal]

Just a note from a lurker here...this is better than tv miniseries Not happy that the bear is causing problems, but I just keep reading, enthralled, wondering what happens next. Hey, now I can cancel cable.

 

[PamelaTX]

I don't live around bears so I have no idea how they climb....But what about a bigger version of what we call a coyote roller? You can do a homemade version like this one (scroll down a bit to where it says "rolling pin version"): http://www.huskycamp.com/security Basically you could string a thin PVC pipe through a wire, put a big fat piece of PVC over the thin PVC so that the fat pipe rolls over the think pipe like a rolling pin. This is mounted horizontally atop the run. The idea is that as the bear puts his paws on the top of the run (or fence) he can't get a grip as it rolls and he spills over backwards. Perhaps bears climb differently than coyotes and this won't work at all. But I thought I'd mention it as an idea.

By the way, so sorry about your bird! Good luck keeping them safe. I have lost a lot of sleep lately as my cats have disappeared one by one at night (four in just a few weeks now) so I know how you are feeling!

Keep us posted.

 

[MrsRodgers]

Ha! I wonder what to call the miniseries? How about Mrs. Rodger's Neighborhood?

Great idea, the coyote rollers! Hmmm...

And I like the rock salt idea, too.

He did not come back last night. We have been getting some snow, and I see no tracks.

 

[MarineCorpFarmr]

Rock salt is pretty easy to do at home too, and its very effective.